Pagliacci/Suor Angelica

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PAGLIACCIRuggero LeoncavalloLibretto by the composer

His jealousy knows no bounds. Neither does his madness.

“The high point of the evening was the Pagliacci prologue. Mark Rucker delivered Tonio with so masterful a blend of vocal power and delicacy of expression, his resonant baritone brimming with highly charged yet controlled emotion.” Opera News

Does life imitate art? Or is it the other way around!

When a troupe of itinerant actors arrives in a small, desolate town to perform, the villagers have no idea of what they are about to witness!

Canio, the leader of the troupe, discovers that his wife Nedda is having an affair with a younger man. Devastated, he dons his clown suit and makeup and sings one of the most powerful and poignant tenor arias ever composed, Vesti la giubba (Put on the trappings). The rest of the opera unfolds tragically, as the unaware audience watches this improvisation of life imitating art imitating life to its violent conclusion. Consumed by rage and driven insane by jealousy, Canio stabs his wife, her lover...and finishes this gripping show speaking some of the most memorable words in all grand opera... “La commedia è finita” (the comedy is over).

SUOR ANGELICAGiacomo PucciniLibretto by Giovacchino Forzano

Scandal. Penance. Suicide. Redemption. All in one act.

“Kelly Kaduce was divine. ...her Angelica embodied the ‘dolce dolore’ without which Puccini does not exist.” El Mercurio

Poor Sister Angelica. She's young, beautiful, wealthy, and banished to a convent as punishment for having a child out of wedlock. After seven long years Angelica is visited by her aunt, the Princess, who informs her not only must she renounce her inheritance, but that her son has taken ill and died.

She is destroyed. Imprisoned by her past, and bound by her faith, she has a vision—her son is calling her from heaven. She drinks poison so that she may join him, and then remembers—too late—that suicide is a mortal sin. As she prays to the Virgin Mary for mercy, the Virgin appears to her, along with her son, who races into her arms as she dies.

Production sponsored by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation, and Stephen Keller and Lesleen Bolt in loving memory of Stephen

Synopses

PagliacciA villagePrologue

Interrupting the overture, Tonio explains to the audience that the play they are about to see is from real life, performed by real people with human passions.

Act I

The villagers are anxiously awaiting a theater troupe. The actors arrive with great fanfare, and Canio, their leader, invites the crowd to their performance. Someone jokes that perhaps Tonio wants to make love to Canio’s wife Nedda. Nedda fears the anger in Canio’s retort but dismisses her apprehensions. Alone with Nedda, Tonio declares his love, only to be scorned. He swears vengeance and leaves. Immediately, Silvio, Nedda’s secret lover, arrives. Tonio sees them and hurries to fetch Canio, who returns to overhear Nedda promising to meet her lover that evening. Canio draws a knife when she refuses to reveal his name. Beppe, another troupe member, intervenes, commanding them to get ready for the play. Now about to portray a clown, Canio must make people laugh even as his own heart is breaking.

Act II

The play-within-a-play begins. Colombina (Nedda) listens to a serenade sung by her lover, Arlecchino (Beppe). Taddeo (Tonio) enters to profess his love to Colombina—as he did in real life. He is again spurned but this time responds with laughter. While Colombina and Arlecchino sit down to enjoy their dinner, Taddeo returns breathless to say her husband Pagliaccio (Canio) is coming! Pagliaccio overhears Colombina promising to meet her lover that evening. “In the name of God!” he says, “The very same words!” Canio is overcome by the play’s resemblance to his own sorrow. He sadly recalls the beginnings of his love for Nedda, and violently demands that she name her lover as the crowd applauds his realistic acting. Nedda refuses, and before anyone is able to intercede, Canio stabs her. She calls for Silvio, who rushes to the stage only to be met with the same fate. With the words “La commedia è finita!” (“The comedy is finished!”) the curtain falls.

While the nuns are praying in the chapel, two lay sisters and Sister Angelica arrive late. After the service, the Sister Monitor imposes penances for various infractions of the rules. While Sister Angelica works Sister Genovieffa tells of the annual event of three consecutive evenings when the fountain’s water turns gold at sunset and suggests they carry some of the golden water to the grave of a recently deceased nun. The nuns compare their secret wishes. Sister Angelica gently denies having any wishes, but the nuns think she waits for news of her family. They suspect she had been a princess and had been forced to take vows seven years before. The Nursing Sister comes in to ask for a potion to help bee-sting, and Sister Angelica picks herbs to make a compress. Two Traveling Sisters bring the news that there is a magnificent coach at the convent gate. The Abbess calls Sister Angelica aside and dismisses the others.

Sister Angelica’s aunt, the Princess, enters and announces that she has brought a contract for Sister Angelica to renounce her inheritance so that her younger sister can be married. Sister Angelica begs for news of her son, who is the reason she was forced to enter the convent. Believing that her son is dead, Sister Angelica falls weeping to the ground. The Princess presents the contract and then departs.

Sister Angelica is consumed with thoughts of her son and wishes to join him in heaven. She gathers herbs and prepares a deadly concoction. As soon as she has drunk the poison, she realizes what she has done. She prays to the Virgin to save her. She hears angels praying to the Blessed Mother for her. As she dies, her son appears.

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